CBS Colorized I Love Lucy Christmas Special

I think there is a huge difference between a B & W movie directed by a masterful craftsman and B & W TV shows and especially comedies like I Love Lucy. There was no subtlety of lighting or shadows. Pretty much they wanted everything lit brightly for the primitive TV equipment both on the production side and the viewer side.

I'm actually interested to see how it is. I haven't seen anything colorized in probably 15 years. I would hope that the process has advanced along with the technology available. Yes, some of the early stuff they did was pretty much unwatchable. I'm expecting this to be much better.

But, yeah, I couldn't watch Casablanca, or It's a Wonderful Life, or Citizen Kane in color.

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One thing they have to adjust for sometimes is the color of wardrobe and some other props. Sometimes the color represented is not the color being worn/used. George Reeves' Superman outfit was not blue and red in the BW episodes, and in the famous shower scene in Psycho, Hershey's Syrup was used as blood going down the drain. So to colorize them means to alter them.

Chocolate syrup was the blood of choice for B&W movies. If it was Red they'd probably still be using it. Finding a good blood substitute has been a problem for special effects artists in the age of color.

I know for the better colorized movies they researched as much as possible to find the original wardrobes, etc. to try and replicate the original colors.

Chocolate syrup was the blood of choice for B&W movies. If it was Red they'd probably still be using it. Finding a good blood substitute has been a problem for special effects artists in the age of color.

I know for the better colorized movies they researched as much as possible to find the original wardrobes, etc. to try and replicate the original colors.

Do you know what the colors were for the B&W Superman costume?

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Reeves's red-blue-and-yellow Superman costume was originally brown-gray-and-white, so that it would photograph in appropriate gray tones on black-and-white film.

I don't mind colorization. Some things were made for B&W, for sure, but a lot of B&W is only in B&W because color wasn't available/was too expensive. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a style choice for I love Lucy.

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There were some color TVs during the time I Love Lucy aired, but not enough to make producing color episodes feasible (among other things, how many color TV cameras were there?). The only significant show I remember being made in color in the early 1950s was a Christmas episode of the original Dragnet; Jack Webb felt that the story would pass the test of time long enough for it to be broadcastable when color TV was widespread. (What he didn't count on was that, when color TV did become widespread, Dragnet would be remade, and a new version of that episode filmed. The original is on YouTube, but AFAIK only in B&W.)

in later years, other shows transitioned from b&w to color (bewitched).

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I think the main switch (in the USA, anyway) was in the fall of 1966. Ironically, there are some shows whose black and white episodes are considered better; the best example I can come up with is The Andy Griffith Show, as the B&W ones mainly had Don Knotts as Barney while the color ones mainly have Jack Burns as his replacement Warren. I have heard this said about The Beverly Hillbillies and Gomer Pyle, USMC as well. Of course, a number of these may simply be "the show's not as good as it used to be" syndrome.

Does anybody else have the complete I Love Lucy set? That has a colorized episode (the one where they are in England and Lucy dreams she's in Scotland, facing a two-headed dragon); the colors were based on color publicity shots taken from the set.

Reeves's red-blue-and-yellow Superman costume was originally brown-gray-and-white, so that it would photograph in appropriate gray tones on black-and-white film.

They started filming in color the third year.

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Now I admit, I'm going back 40 years in my memory bank. When I was a teen, I had a 12" B&W TV in my bedroom (my parents had a 19" color set which was the house's main TV). I watched quite a few color shows in B&W and never noticed the colors looking funny in B&W. SO my question is, do shows filmed in color look better in B&W than B&W shows look on a color TV? I guess it only has to do with FILMING colors in B&W and not just WATCHING colors in B&W.

Now I admit, I'm going back 40 years in my memory bank. When I was a teen, I had a 12" B&W TV in my bedroom (my parents had a 19" color set which was the house's main TV). I watched quite a few color shows in B&W and never noticed the colors looking funny in B&W. SO my question is, do shows filmed in color look better in B&W than B&W shows look on a color TV? I guess it only has to do with FILMING colors in B&W and not just WATCHING colors in B&W.

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I remember my little sister always wanting to watch the Wizard of Oz; she saw it on the B&W TV so many times; she thought it had been colorized when she saw in at college in color. I still think she say it in color once or twice at home.

BTW, even though I booed colorized shows/movies, I still may watch this.. (and turning down the color ISN'T the same, btw)..

and another thing is that I actually don't think I Love Lucy is all that funny, I think it's overrated.. But since it essentially (or completely?) invented the multi camera sitcom, I give it credit for that, and am still vaguely interested in seeing this since it probably wasn't in the regular syndicated runs?

I remember my little sister always wanting to watch the Wizard of Oz; she saw it on the B&W TV so many times; she thought it had been colorized when she saw in at college in color. I still think she say it in color once or twice at home.

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Weren't the Kansas scenes at the beginning and end of "The Wizard of Oz" shot in B&W, but the Oz scenes were in color? Or was that an artistic colorization choice done by someone after the fact?

I think there is a huge difference between a B & W movie directed by a masterful craftsman and B & W TV shows and especially comedies like I Love Lucy. There was no subtlety of lighting or shadows. Pretty much they wanted everything lit brightly for the primitive TV equipment both on the production side and the viewer side.

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I agree. TV was limited to B&W back in the 50's and early 60's because color TV hadn't saturated the market yet. Colorized TV may not be quite as bad as I suggested, but it all depends on how well they do it. I grew up watching a lot of shows in B&W and it just seems like an injustice to screw with many of them.

But, yeah, I couldn't watch Casablanca, or It's a Wonderful Life, or Citizen Kane in color.

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I wouldn't even consider watching a classic B&W movie that's been colorized. It's sacrilige, plain and simple. Many of the classics, especially most of the old horror films, would be ruined by colorizing them. They just don't have the same feel as they would in the original B&W. Although rare, there are a number of movies still shot in B&W to get the lighting effects only available in a monochome image.

It was MGM Studios. I was working for Ted at the time. We all thought he was nuts to stick his neck out so far financially at the time. But, what did we know? We were just concerned with our paychecks.

Ted had some very creative financial "wizards" behind him. I remember that when the company was putting all its' assets and cash flow into building CNN, the accountants told us they were making payroll with the profits from the literally millions of Slim Whitman albums we were selling on SuperStation17.

Ted did love to colorize old movies. His favorite was Casablanca.

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He should be drawn and quartered for colorizing Casablanca. Somebody should have just given him a coloring book and a box of Crayolas so he could play with them in his private box during the Braves' games while Jane Fonda nodded off. He may have built CNN, but it's become a laughing stock of the news industry.

Just for a hoot, I took my wife to a Slim Whitman concert at Prince Georges County Fair in MD about 25 years ago. I had to see for myself this guy who sold more albums in the UK than Elvis and the Beatles combined (I remember the SW commercials quite well ). I don't think there were more than 200 people in the entire audience. The opening C&W act was absolutely horrendous to the point of being laughable. Slim was actually quite entertaining and I enjoyed the show. He had his son on stage with him who was a complete moron. He sang a couple of songs and then spent five minutes waving to the audience as he slowly exited stage left.

I agree. TV was limited to B&W back in the 50's and early 60's because color TV hadn't saturated the market yet. Colorized TV may not be quite as bad as I suggested, but it all depends on how well they do it. I grew up watching a lot of shows in B&W and it just seems like an injustice to screw with many of them.

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I agree. The first time I saw Herman Munster in color it just looked SO wrong. Then again, we have many shows of that era that were originally in B&W and then moved over to color (Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie to name a couple). It's interesting to note that we don't have the same qualms about porting our SD shows over to HD. It's kind of the 21st Century of the same thing.

I wouldn't even consider watching a classic B&W movie that's been colorized. It's sacrilige, plain and simple. Many of the classics, especially most of the old horror films, would be ruined by colorizing them. They just don't have the same feel as they would in the original B&W. Although rare, there are a number of movies still shot in B&W to get the lighting effects only available in a monochome image.

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I would never watch those classic B&W movies in color. I think those were meant to be in B&W, and some were shot when color was available (yes, I know in many cases it was cost). Again, they just look wrong.

I agree. The first time I saw Herman Munster in color it just looked SO wrong. Then again, we have many shows of that era that were originally in B&W and then moved over to color (Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie to name a couple).

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In terms of sitcoms, here are the ones I can think of, besides the two you mentioned:The Beverly Hillbillies
Petticoat Junction
Gilligan's Island
My Three Sons
The Lucy Show
The Andy Griffith Show
Gomer Pyle, USMC
F Troop
and one I'm not sure about: Please Don't Eat the Daisies

Also, the pilot to Hogan's Heroes (which did air regularly in syndication) was in black & white, although the rest of the series was in color.

In terms of sitcoms, here are the ones I can think of, besides the two you mentioned:The Beverly Hillbillies
Petticoat Junction
Gilligan's Island
My Three Sons
The Lucy Show
The Andy Griffith Show
Gomer Pyle, USMC
F Troop
and one I'm not sure about: Please Don't Eat the Daisies

Also, the pilot to Hogan's Heroes (which did air regularly in syndication) was in black & white, although the rest of the series was in color.

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When I grew up, I had a BW TV. When I got color, it seemed strange how some eps of those shows were BW and some color. I don't remember all of them, but I do remember Gilligan, Bewitched, and Jeannie having both BW & color eps.

Weren't the Kansas scenes at the beginning and end of "The Wizard of Oz" shot in B&W, but the Oz scenes were in color?

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Technically, the Kansas scenes are sepia tone, not black-and-white.

For many years, though, the TV print of "The Wizard of Oz," the one which was broadcast annually, had the Kansas scenes literally in black-and-white. I remember it being made a big deal when the sepia coloring was "restored" for the TV broadcast -- might have been for the 50th anniversary (1989).

For many years, though, the TV print of "The Wizard of Oz," the one which was broadcast annually, had the Kansas scenes literally in black-and-white. I remember it being made a big deal when the sepia coloring was "restored" for the TV broadcast -- might have been for the 50th anniversary (1989).

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All of the film was technically filmed in B&W. The media that was used was B&W film.